Dept not commenting on Zuma jet reports

Cape Town - The department of defence declined to comment on Friday on reports that it was finalising the purchase of a luxury VIP jet for President Jacob Zuma.

However, there are suggestions that no such deal is on the cards.

"The [defence] minister [Nosiviwe Mapisa-Naqkula] will engage the media on the projects and programmes [of the SA Defence Force] in a week's time, after a briefing on these," said defence communication head Siphiwe Dlamini.

He declined to comment further.

According to media reports, the jet would cost $150m (about R1.26bn) and an extra $80m (about R672.5m) to reconfigure.

Also included in the deal was a Global Express 600 costing $28m (R235m) for the deputy president, bringing the total bill for VVIP transport to $258m (about R2.17bn).

The saga has provoked an outcry from the Democratic Alliance, which says spending R2bn on an aircraft is wrong, given South Africa's levels of poverty.

"Before you make assumptions, first verify [with the department]. You are assuming they're spending it... There was no such deal on the table," said Maharaj.

He said there was no provision on the budget for such expenditure.He then declined to comment further.

It is understood that while the defence ministry might have looked at providing a VIP jet for Zuma, no commitment has been made, nor is likely be made to actually purchase one.

Comments

tuco.angeleyes - 2012-06-29 14:44

If there is any truth to this then I must say its absolutely disgusting. I thought corruption was bad under Mbeki but this is just downright criminal.
Zuma and the ANC must be voted out of power as a matter of urgency before SA sinks even further.

Squeegee - 2012-06-29 14:51

Unbelievable. In a world in recession our government spends out tax money with impunity. Unfortunately the majority - who do not pay tax, will think this is a great idea.

james.weather.9 - 2012-06-29 14:52

27 000 homeless families in RDP Houses Or ONE man's plane !?
I think the government needs to start getting their priorities straight…

gieljam.gomtor - 2012-06-29 15:12

Not very long an South Africa will be in a worse situation than Greece it will be in thick dirty stinking grease...

JohanCduToit - 2012-06-29 15:17

Why does Zuma need a bigger jet? Is he trying to compensate for something? Perhaps he is trying to live up to Brett Murray's painting...

erich.goosen - 2012-06-29 15:51

Ostrich mentality - do say anything, put your head in the sand and everything will blow over. I am not so sure this is going to work here. Let us see what is going to happen in Manguang.

Jacques - 2012-06-29 14:46

Can they please then comment on the 6 trillion SAA's fleet cost South African tax payer and the fact that SAA is failing as company, costing the taxpayer billions every year because it cannot be run at a profit?

Jacques - 2012-06-29 14:55

Their current fleet cos 725 Billion USD, do the conversion yourself. The way aircraft are generally bought is by financing it. Now, SAA sold a lot of their older fleet to help compensate for the newer fleet to be acquired, this might bring the total being saved at most to half that amount, and that is only if the aircraft they sold were in extremely good condition and they could find a buyer to pay that type of money. With the added interest that will included from the banks and other financial institutions that financed these loans, the amount loaned and the amount paid back generally comes back to a profit margin of about 200%. So if you borrow 3 trillion, you pay back 9 trillion. So the 6 trillion is what I would call a safe estimate...it's in all probability a lot more.

raath - 2012-06-29 14:57

It had a moment where it actually broke even - it was when an [I removed the genetic heritage} interim CEO was in place, after the first one was fired, and the current one was employed.

Jacques - 2012-06-29 15:00

SAA has great potential. But it is being run like a state department and not a company...i.o.w ineffectively.

raath - 2012-06-29 14:50

"Before you make assumptions, first verify [with the department]." - Yeah right, as if any government department would give you a truthful, honest, or straight answer...

Is this African insanity going to end any time?
Then they wonder why the world makes fun of them. Yes, political correctness demands that African leaders be included in... and spOken to correctly but trust Me, what gets said behind closed doors at highest leves is exactly what we all think. And why do we think it? because of issues like this.

@ Kenny you know if they were spending all that wasted money on things, that it was supposed to be spend on, this second transition the ANC are dreaming about and debating right now, would have been a reality long ago. Yes the hospitals could have been fixed, schools/ education could have been improved, the poor could have been given land and the training to utilise it successfully. Job opportunities could have been created while improving the country's infrastructure. The list goes on and on.........

Jannie - 2012-06-29 14:59

we need to stand together as a nation to get rid of this regime.
they are purposefully not educating people to keep themselves in power

pieriewaaier.zooms - 2012-06-29 15:04

So what then is Sam Makhudu Guluybe doing in the US talking to Boeing? Maharaj is lying through his teeth again...as so many times before. Perhaps we are talking to Boeing to procure the top range Boeing military transport planes to airlift our decrepid army into Africa? Or to Mangaung in December just to be on standby? Another arms deal scandal in the making, I suspect. If this Sam Makhudu Guluybe is in the US on official business, then surely the fact can be declared. Is it 'unofficial' with no clear purpose perhaps? Then it's a waste of our tax money! This ANC=NUTS!

pieriewaaier.zooms - 2012-06-29 15:08

Oh yes! And the previous report stated it was approved by cabinet! Really? These guys live in cuckoo land totally oblivious of the real world surrou ding them in this land. What a disgraceful joke, they are, the ANC that would have been funny if it was not so abysmally sad.

Bloodstone - 2012-06-29 15:05

"There was no such deal on the table," said Maharaj.Sam Makhudu Guluybe is already in the US to finalise the deal! This lying Maharaj is comical sometimes...

smiso.mkhonza.9 - 2012-06-29 15:05

let wait and hear from them before we jump

Ayanda Mathunjwa - 2012-06-29 15:52

Smiso, you are naive my friend:(

mark.p.vrdoljak - 2012-06-29 15:07

This coming from the man who wakes up in the morning and his first thought is about the poor who spent the night in the cold with no food.....

peter.tony.14 - 2012-06-29 16:10

I feel rocks for the poor. They are the same idiots who keep voting in the pricks who spend all this money on themselves. Starve until you learn how to vote.

scouter.fourone - 2012-06-29 15:16

"Defence Minister Sam Makhudu Guluybe is in the US to finalise the purchase of a 300-seater R2bn Boeing for President Jacob Zuma, a report said on Friday."
And yet now......
"The [defence] minister [Nosiviwe Mapisa-Naqkula] will engage the media on the projects and programmes [of the SA Defence Force]"
I am confused ...... just who is currently regarded as the Defence Minister and where is he right now?

bob.small.7547 - 2012-06-29 15:18

How can the Department of Defense decline to comment??? They are frigging civil servants and must answer to these questions...!
Frigging arrogant idiots..!

Jane - 2012-06-29 15:19

Last night I saw an insert on E-news about a 80 year old women who lives in an outside toilet because she is so poor, but hey Zuma spends 2 billion on a plane, just for him and his 20 odd children, what a disgrace, but people will still vote ANC!

frans.vanrensburg.7 - 2012-06-29 15:25

The USA has Air Force One for its President. The RSA has Air Farce One.

Juan - 2012-06-29 16:17

No it's called Gravy Plane One, Gravy Plane Two, and then you have all the xtras to escort them.

Christi Vaughn Roestorff - 2012-06-29 15:38

Come on chaps! Almost all his mates in cabinet can fit and they'll be ... Leaving on a jet plain... Never to come back home again...wishfull thinking I know!

noelle14 - 2012-06-29 15:39

Um this deal better NOT be on the table! We have mouths to feed, schools to build, people to educate, hospitals to supply and the list grows, it's funny how they find money for something stupid like a JET but yet there are still people begging and who can't read and write...now I know why!!

Bheki Nas - 2012-06-29 15:39

Even mugabe gat his own...why not Zuma...im lovin it!.

clive.lesser - 2012-06-29 15:48

its all about massive ego's!!!!

theo.konings.9 - 2012-06-29 15:51

You're lovin it because you're not payin for it idiot!

B.b. - 2012-06-29 17:32

I'm paying an amount of R1666 for Tax per month,,,I don't care!,,,spend it president,,,there are people who are getting it for free without having worked for it. They have all wat it takes to earn something out of their efforts. Have you realised how expensive drugs are? Those whom you regard as poor are buying those drugs, with wat? They use the tax payers' (our) money to buy those drugs,,,I'm talking from experince,,,I'm watching it everyday,,,Masisukumeni Sakhe Isizwe MaAfrica,,,I'm concerned

raath - 2012-06-29 19:24

@B.B you are so dense you have your own event horizon...

milan.sacek - 2012-06-29 15:44

Roads for all or an airplane for one...Let's go with an airplane!

lynn.syme.1 - 2012-06-29 15:56

Compassion fatigued for the "poor". They will continue voting for their t-shirt and KFC. You get the government you deserve. Now Zuma....when you take off and fly over the squatter camps, dont forget to wave at the poor whilst you are sipping your champagne and laughing.

vernon.samuel.7 - 2012-06-29 15:56

Here's a free lesson to politicians. Do not criticise the public and media for speculation and assumption. All that you need to do is admit or deny and the speculation is over. You refuse to comment, and then slate them for false reporting!!! I have a good idea for a tv reality game show. It is called YES OR NO. Every week a politician appears and viewers from around the country call in with questions. And the politician can only answer using the words YES or NO. I wish I had a cent for every time that a politician was asked a Yes/No question and spent five minutes beating around the bush, leaving the interviewer more confused than before the question was answered.

Johan De Beer - 2012-06-29 17:44

Great idea! You should punt it to Simon Cowell

procold2 - 2012-06-29 15:59

use your next vote wisley people, theses guys are going to empty the cookie jar if that has not been done already

scouter.fourone - 2012-06-29 16:21

The cookie jar is already empty according to the Minister of non-Education and one or two other august members of the cabinet - don't give much for the cookie jar's chances being around for much longer unless it is well and truly nailed down.

I hope this is simply a rumour.
If its true, then all JZ's pro-poor utterances and all his spouting about the "Second Transition" must be seen for what it is; Vote Buying. Plain and simple.

thozi - 2012-06-29 16:21

If a jet is essential and is bought, is it not bought for use by "the President", who ever s/he is - not necessarily "President Zuma"? I remember a jet was bought during the former President, Mr Mbeki's tenure - it is currently being used by the current president. I don't think it formed part of Mr Mbeki's retirement pachage. (I'm not expressing an opinion on whether a new jet should be bought or not. I'm merely saying that the Jet is bought for a sitting President as opposed to Mr Zuma).

Johan De Beer - 2012-06-29 17:41

No jet should be bought now. Especially not at such extpense and to such lixurious specifications. Good grief!

Dee - 2012-06-30 10:48

Look to the leadership example of Joyce Banda who see's 'The President Jet' is NOT a necessity for her or any successor - and got rid of it, along with a large fleet of luxury 'presidential' vehicles.
That is wise and responsible LEADERSHIP. It earns RESPECT.
'Toys for Boys' is irresponsible and earns contempt.

thozi - 2012-06-30 23:21

I can't believe 9 (nine) people believe that I advocated that a jet be bought for Mr Zuma. I clearly said I wasn't expressing an opinion on whether it should or should not be bought. Maybe people should not drink and read.

lmapheto - 2012-06-29 16:22

Not Ayoba, serious contradictions in this country...growth and spending? Development and vandalism...e-tolling and traffic fines...who is fooling who?

keith.ngobeni - 2012-06-29 16:37

Let ignoramus keep voting for the ANC a better life for all, soon south Africa would be the next Zimbabwe, Zuma and his cronies are repeatedly raping south Africa to the grave this time.

mzondistanley - 2012-06-29 16:55

People Throw some of these Topics in the air in order for the News to be sellable!! Journalistic way of keeping afloat financially during hard times in CITIES LIKE Jo'burg!!!
Beyond that there is no purpose!!

Lulama Mbelwa - 2012-06-29 17:11

ANC pls don't do this to us.

makhosonke.maseko.5 - 2012-06-29 17:24

Now I understand why armed forces in Africa

Johan De Beer - 2012-06-29 17:30

I smell a quick cover-up

george.pistorius - 2012-06-29 17:31

Take that money and buy land for your people dont steal from the whites!!!

osama.pascal - 2012-06-29 17:32

When a man is called on to comment to state his case and elects not to, an advers imference will be held against him.

nico.dejongh.90 - 2012-06-29 18:04

DAY LITE ROBBERY! from gravy to bling and
no one to sing after media becomes - 'has beign'.

allan.whitton1 - 2012-06-29 18:20

could this money have been used to pay the e-tolling, sorry that would have benefited millions, far better a few cabinet staff and their relatives and friends

roger.deats - 2012-06-29 18:30

Yup, I am afraid I have to agree with Adam. R2 billion equates @ R50k per house to 40 THOUSAND RDP houses. We have learners in Limpopo without text books for pity's sake! Now this pr*ck needs a jet (not a BBJ that Mbeki purchased) to stroke his ego. Kids are dying in our rural areas and he needs a f*cking jet - to get food to them (Ya Right!)? I am telling you, if he gets this right I am outta here like a rocket (Or Boeing)! Come on South Africa! This is close to treason!

glyn.morgan.96 - 2012-06-29 19:00

They must either confirm it or deny it once and for all.

rikahaggar - 2012-06-29 20:07

And in my town they are only issuing municipal housing to the poor for those who applied in 1996/1997. How about using the Flossie and rather build houses for your country men and women freezing in there shacks!!!

ken.eriksen.9 - 2012-06-30 00:24

This money could have built 24,000 houses. It is beyond disgusting and who suffers the most? The poverty stricken people of our once proud nation. Nonetheless its still a drop in the ocean compared to the money the ANC has lost us due to corruption.

Mmaki - 2012-06-30 07:58

Wise led Government like ours,South Africa, shall in no way enter into purhase transactions of that kind at the tax player's expense. We,The Citizens of this country, are living in honeydoom, yes, not honeymoon

Derek Less - 2012-06-30 08:12

The British prime minister flies commercial British airways flights to get around.

ernst.lederer.56 - 2012-07-02 00:04

Now I know why JZ and his devious cohorts are sticking on their version of the Info Bill - just to be able to buy jets or other toys for themselves without being disturbed or even reprimanded by ordinary people!

ibbetsonkennedy - 2012-07-02 18:16

Put the whole bloody lot of them on that Jet and send them to outer Mongolia They care nothing for the daily suffering of their own People